A pair of hornbills in Serangoon may have to find another nesting spot soon, after NParks sealed the tree cavity that they’ve been calling home.
This was observed by some Serangoon residents, who have gotten used to the sight of their feathered neighbours.
The concerned netizen, Firdaus Adam, first noticed that the pair of hornbills “decided to nest in a tree near my housing estate”, he wrote in the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group.
He later noticed that “a contractor engaged by NParks decided to plug then hole in the tree where the birds were nesting”. He elaborated: “They claimed that the interior of the tree was rotten and that the birds have left.”
Netizens chimed in and were concerned that the majestic-looking birds were seemingly kicked out of their home, especially since Firdaus also noted that “the birds returned [to the tree later on] and they looked so disappointed.”
Another netizen claims that “these hornbills have been coming back to this area since [the] circuit breaker.”
8days.sg reached out to NParks who confirmed that they had “sealed a tree cavity in a Yellow Flame tree at Serangoon North Avenue 2 on 27 February where a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills were observed”.
The reason for this? “If the hornbills had chosen to nest in the cavity, the monitoring of the tree and tree cavity would not be able to be conducted without disturbing the nest.”
NParks also confirmed that the tree “was inspected to ensure that there was no nesting activity, and no eggs or fledglings were present” before the tree cavity was sealed.
Accroding to NParks, “Oriental pied hornbills have a distinctive nesting pattern where the female seals herself within a tree cavity over five to seven days using mud and fibres, leaving just a small opening for feeding. The breeding cycle typically requires three months until the young birds fledge.”
The cavity was thus “sealed pre-emptively”, to encourage the hornbills to nest at a more suitable location.
Once locally extinct, the Oriental Pied hornbill returned in the 2000s through recolonisation and are now a common sight in urban Singapore.
Still, there were a number of skeptical netizens who weren’t convinced by NParks’ response.
“Since NParks monitors the health of most trees, are they going to seal off all of them now,” one commented.
However, others had a different perspective. “Should the tree collapse, who should we blame then?” someone surmised.
Here’s hoping the Serangoon hornbills have since ‘upgraded’ to a more suitable home.